As bittersweet as it is to pack up and drive away one last time, remember that the world is your oyster. While some of your friends might be flocking to massive metropolises to start their post-college lives and careers, big cities aren’t the only option — and thank goodness for that!

Small cities have so much to offer every resident, but they’re especially well-suited to young people and new graduates. Here are 10 reasons moving to a small city after college is a choice you won't regret.

1. Less job competition.

Let’s start with one of the biggies: smaller cities make for less competition when it comes to lining up your dream job. This can also equate to better job security once you’ve landed the role you want. Plenty of major cities certainly have lots of career opportunities, but bustling urban centers aren't the only place to climb the ladder. In many cases, a smaller city is the ideal spot to start building your career — fewer people are vying for the same jobs, networking is easier, and there's often a general feeling of inclusivity and support in the professional community that you don't find in bigger cities.

2. More work-life balance.

When you land that dream job, you might find that a smaller city affords you more time, money and energy for a healthy work-life balance. Living in a big city with higher expenses and a culture that prizes overworking can mean tough compromises. In a smaller city, you’re a lot less likely to have to decide between making enough money for anything more than just squeaking by, and having enough downtime to pursue hobbies or spend time with friends.

3. A creative community.

Creative types thrive in small cities for a variety of reasons: cost of living is lower, it’s easier to find studio space, and the creative communities in small cities tend to be more collaborative than what you’d find in NYC, LA or Miami. Another bonus of all this creative energy? Even if you’re not drawn to creative pursuits yourself, you’ll benefit from all the coffee shops, boutiques, galleries and murals the artsy crowd brings along with them.

4. More affordable rent.

Compare your rent in a small (but still very cool!) city to the rent your friends in Manhattan are paying. Need we say more?

5. No sharing your favorite bar with a wall-to-wall crowd.

The same goes for your favorite cafe, yoga studio, or hole-in-the-wall dinner spot. Instead, you’ll be greeted by the same few regulars who know your name.

6. You can take a community leadership role.

You’re in a smaller pond in a small city. If you want to make a positive change in your community, your actions will have a bigger impact. The same goes for making a name for yourself in a local organization or city government, or even creating a whole new club or community group from scratch. Your actions have real power, and the possibilities are limitless.

7. Smaller clubs and groups.

If you want to explore a hobby (which is a great way to find new friends after college), you’ll benefit from more intimate gatherings with smaller groups. Whether your jam is a book club, a local sport or a church community, less crowded meetups will enable you to make connections faster and dive deeper into what you care about.

8. Hidden gems galore.

Quirky local joints, bizarre community traditions, and hidden gems are the hallmarks of small cities. Whether it’s a perfectly tucked-away dive bar or your neighborhood’s annual apple-bobbing contest, each discovery gives your city special character that you can’t find anywhere else.

9. New friends around every corner.

Large cities have high turnover. Transplants often stay for just a short amount of time before moving on to another metropolis, and the ones who stay are at risk of becoming jaded beyond their years. In a small city, your new friends are likely to stick around for more than a few months, which gives you a chance to build a tight-knit, enduring community for yourself. Making friends after college can be tough. Living in a small city makes it easier.

10. A more zen morning commute.

Cheers to less crowded public transit, shorter drives and more peaceful biking and walking paths.

The readers of Conde Nast’s Traveler magazine, one of the most highly-regarded and awarded travel magazines in the country, have chosen Greenville as the No. 3 Small City Destination in the country.

The magazine, which has won 25 National Magazine Awards and has a circulation of around 800,000, received hundreds of thousands of votes for their annual Big City and Small City categories, and Greenville came in behind only Aspen, Colo. at No. 2 and another South Carolina city, Charleston, at No. 1. This is Greenville’s first appearance on the Reader’s Choice list, though Charleston has appeared on it since 1993 and was voted the No. 1 City in the World in 2016.

Greenville’s entry reads as follows:

“Want to get in on a secret? Plan a trip to Greenville now and you might see it just on the cusp of stardom. The up-and-coming food lover’s town is getting its own outpost of Sean Brock’s Husk and its first food hall in late-2017, and its farm-to-table scene is rising to the ranks of Asheville (try Jianna for Italian and Vault & Vator, the city’s first speakeasy, after). Walk off your food coma across the 32-acre Falls Park that runs through the middle of town before going back for seconds.”

Owning a home is often considered the American dream — and it's an expensive one. Homeowners in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., pay from 33% to 93% more for housing each month than do renters living in the same state.

But many homeowners reap benefits that you can't get from renting, such as financial security and stability, tax deductions, and a vehicle for retirement savings.

While renting can't offer those long-term financial benefits, the study found that it's cheaper to rent on a month-to-month basis. If you're wondering how to save money for a down payment, renting can help you build that nest egg. However, in extremely expensive or competitive markets renting might be better for the long haul.

To determine the monthly homeownership premium — the additional cost of owning instead of renting, expressed as a percentage — NerdWallet compared 2015 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the median gross rent and median homeownership cost in each state and Washington, D.C. Median gross rent includes the costs of monthly rent and utilities for all kinds of rental properties, and median homeownership cost includes monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, insurance and utilities.

This comparison doesn't include the down payment required to buy a home, which is traditionally 20% of the home price for conventional mortgages.

Key takeaways

Owning is more expensive everywhere. Across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., it costs more each month to own a home than to rent. The median cost people pay nationwide to own a home is 54% more than the median cost of monthly rent.

Greenville offers all the benefits of a big city, without the inconveniences common to major metropolitan areas

Located in the foothills of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains – and more or less equidistant between Charlotte and Atlanta – Greenville, S.C., has been lauded for everything from its quality of life to its impressive economic growth and potential to become “the knowledge economy’s next big thing.”

Though Greenville may seem like an overnight sensation, the city’s success has been decades in the making. It embraced walkability and the use of ample green space years before it became fashionable to do so. And longtime mayor Knox White credits the bold makeover of the city’s downtown as a key factor in helping to attract marquee multinationals to the area (think: Michelin’s headquarters in 1988, and BMW in 1994), which paved the way for other businesses to establish or expand manufacturing operations across the state.

Following are great reasons why people have been moving to Greenville, a city with a healthy mix of places to go and things to do.

Falls Park

Falls Park on the Reedy has been described as “an oasis within the city” – a postcard-perfect downtown park that features trails, landscaped gardens, scenic overlooks, waterfalls and the “floating” Liberty Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge that draws visitors from the nearby restaurants and stores on Main Street. The Swamp Rabbit Trail is a 17.5-mile multi-use greenway that winds along the Reedy River and connects Falls Park with area schools and businesses.

West End Historic District

Adjacent to Falls Park is the West End Historic District, part of a neighborhood that dates back to the 1830s, one once dominated by textile mills, warehouses and factories. Today, West End is known as the arts and entertainment center of the city, and has a dozen restaurants and an array of shops and boutiques.

Fluor Field

One of the most popular entertainment destinations in the city is Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive, the Class A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. Most notably, the stadium is modeled after Boston’s Fenway Park and features its own “Green Monster,” a 30-foot-high wall in left field that includes an old-fashioned manual scoreboard.

Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum

A Saturday visit to Fluor Field isn’t complete without a stroll across the street to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Library (free, but open just one day a week), which is located in the home where the infamous professional baseball player lived and died. The nonprofit museum displays photographs and artifacts associated with Shoeless Joe, a lifetime .356 hitter who was banned from baseball along with seven other Chicago White Sox players after being accused of fixing the 1919 World Series, this despite the fact that he hit .375 in the Series.

History and the Arts

Greenville is home to an eclectic mix of museums that one might only expect to find in a city many times its size. To name but three, consider: the Greenville County Museum of Art, which features the world’s largest public collection of watercolors by Andrew Wyeth; the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery, which displays Old Masters like Rubens, van Dyck, Tintoretto and Cranach; and the Museum and Library of Confederate History, which houses countless artifacts from the 1860s, and has a research library and documents room that includes Confederate currency and newspapers from the period.

The Peace Center

The city’s cultural centerpiece is the Peace Center, a multi-use performing arts venue that includes a 2,100-seat concert hall and a 400-seat theater. The center hosts events including classical, jazz, country, bluegrass, folk, pop and rock concerts, as well as comedy acts and Broadway shows. Resident companies include the Carolina Ballet Theatre, Greenville Chorale and the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Furman University

No discussion of Greenville would be complete without mention of Furman University, one of the country’s premier private liberal arts colleges, which has a Division I athletic program that has produced top-flight PGA and LPGA Tour pros, as well as Clint Dempsey, who stars for the U.S. national soccer team. The magnificent campus is well worth a tour, having been designed by the same Boston firm that restored Colonial Williamsburg.